As a child, I would watch Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror” video and wonder why people would be so overcome with emotion that they would cry hysterically, faint and be carried out of the crowd lifelessly. That mystery was solved, twenty-five years later; when the ‘Legendary Roots Krewe from Philly’ obliterated Bear Creek’s Amphitheater Stage. After living out a dream (thanks to festival curator Paul Levine, who arranged for me to bring my hometown heroes onstage), I assumed the position riding the rail directly in front of emcee Black Thought. The entire Amphitheater was packed to the gills, people were screaming the band’s name with a vehemence! Ahmir ?uestlove Thompson led ‘The Illa-Fifth Dynamite Foundation’ as they launched into a gargantuan run of classics; “Table of Contents” gave way to “Next Movement,” ‘Hot Hot Music’ filled the dank air. The following seventy-five minutes was a whirlwind of unparalleled hip-hop fury: Capt. Kirk, Kamal Gray, Knuckles, Tuba Gooding Jr., Ray Angry and Mark Kelley followed their leaders thru the swamp and beyond. Roots chestnuts like “Proceed,” “Step into a New Realm” and “Mellow My Man” were delivered with vigor, the songs and style fresh to def.

Legendary as advertised. Indeed, this writer is from Philadelphia; but please don’t get it twisted, this was fucking nuclear! The Roots headlining set on Saturday night is immediately on the short-list for greatest in the festival’s storied history.

UPDATE: A new audio source has surfaced, which, in my opinion, has slightly better quality. Audio taper travelinbeat posted his recording of this superjam in February of 2013 as 24 bit flac files (which are no longer available). I have converted to 16 bit flac and you can download travelinbeat’s new source right here:

Also, Bonnaroo365 has posted 4 youtube episodes about this superjam, a total of 39 minutes of interviews, behind the scenes, and live footage. The videos have been embedded at the bottom of this post.

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Thanks to one of my close friends we have an excellent audio recording of D’Angelo‘s first U.S. performance in 12 years! On the morning of June 10, 2012 at 12:15am central time, Questlove hosted the Bonnaroo Music Festival Superjam and the rest is history. Finally, the Soulquarians reunited after 12 years!